Important Discussions
by Terri Granger
Summary: Just a few conversations which should have happened. Sometimes the plotline is sped up, sometimes events happen in a different order, sometimes the plot moves more slowly than in the show. Each chapter is a one-shot, all are free to good homes.
1. Mitch and Terri

I don't own All Saints. Channel 7 does, although the silly buggers are cancelling it. This one is what I think the end of "Stolen Memories" (I think that's the name of that episode) should have been. After all, there's a reason the meaning of 'phobia' is 'unreasonable fear'. Stolen Memories is the last episode of season 3. And yes, I have sped up the timeline considerably. Lucy is about two months now.

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MITCH AND TERRI

How could she? How DARE she? I would never have laid a finger on her, how DARE she? Of all the stupid, selfish, PETTY things to think, how DARE she?" Mitchell Stevens was fuming. (He had been fuming for most of the past two months, and although it was about various issues, the current one was predominant, as was his feud/disagreements with his emotionally unstable wife.) He was also pacing, which was making the general staff of Ward 17 dizzy. 'General staff', because the ward's usually fearless leader, Therese 'Terri' Sullivan, had hidden in her office. While most of the ward seemed confused, or slightly amused by Mitch's behaviour, Terri was actively afraid of the usually well-liked physician's fury.

"Mitch? Mitch! Mitchell Hamish Stevens, sit down and SHUT UP!!" The one staff member who knew what was going on; Yvonne 'Von' Ryan was trying to get the man's attention. When he finally complied, she slammed an open medical dictionary down in front of him, and pointed out a highlighted word. "Read that, and tell me what it means to you," she instructed.

"Phobia: An unreasoning or unreasonable fear. Usually characterised by obsessive avoidance, sudden freezing, errors in judgement, etc..." His voice trailed off. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." Von smiled. "And finally, he gets the point. You know what Ryan was like; you know what Eileen and Margaret went through. You know she saw it all, or at least a lot of it." "Yes. It makes sense, now. I could wring that man's neck, I truly could..." "Yes. So could I. However, right now, you've got an amused staff to explain your behaviour to, and a panicky best friend to try and sort things out with. You might want to re-evaluate your priorities."

Mitch just nodded. "Okay, first thing to do is tell Rose." "NO! Don't tell Rose. Rose'll just get mad and suspicious, and that won't help anything." "Rose _is_ getting suspicious of us. Hell, she's making life really hard for Terri; she's being a real cow at times, when she's not in her right mind. The more open and honest with Rose we are the better. I mean, Rose knows about me and Terri, she knows we were supposed to be married, knows we are best friends and yet she still thinks we're having an affair. At least, I hope we're best friends. I think I stuffed that up rather thoroughly."

Von seemed to understand. "Just talk to her, Mitch. Talk about how what she said made you feel, _really_ talk this time. Ask how what you said made her feel, talk about what you both need to do to fix this. You are both sensible people, you'll work it out. And, much as I hate to admit it, you're totally right about being honest with Rose. Hopefully her attitude will improve, but even if it doesn't you do have the right to have friends outside your marriage, and you shouldn't have to justify them to Rose."

Mitch laughed at that. "Thanks, Von. You're great. And, as usual, you're right. I'll ring Rose first, and then I'll go talk to Terri. I just hope we can sort this out, I've spent so long trying to work out what I did wrong, and I was utterly furious when she told me. But you're totally right. I should have seen it coming, with Ryan and her brother-in-law; I should have seen it coming. I should have known about it, and not reacted like that."

"H'm. Everyone stuffs up sometimes. Just make sure you fix the stuff up you managed to make this time, everything should be OK." Mitch nodded, and then picked up the phone. "Right. Now I have a call to make, and a friend to make up with. Wish me luck." "You don't need luck, mate. You'll both be fine, you know it." Mitch nodded, absently, before dialling his home number.

"Hi, Rose. I'm just letting you know I'm going to be a bit late tonight...Yes, it's to do with Terri...No, we're not having an affair, I lost a young patient once, tried to drown my anger and sorrows, and ended up punching a hole in a wall...Well, you've met Ryan Sullivan, haven't you...Yes, I'll be home tonight, I just need to do some very fast talking...No, once again I'm not having an affair...Yes, baby, I love you...No, but I _am_ allowed to have other friends, other people I care for deeply or even love, and Terri and I need each other, we've been very close friends for so long...No, I'm not going to leave you for her, not unless you do something really stupid, or you decide to leave me...Yes, you have known all along it was her I was in love with before, you said it yourself...Go take your lithium, you're not being reasonable." He finally snapped, running out of patience.

"Bloody woman. Won't listen to reason, has no idea what she's talking about, it's enough to drive a man to drink. The way she's acting, she'd deserve it if I did leave her. Now I'm going to feel guilty about the fact I need to smooth things out with Terri, and that's going to put a strain on our relationship, and that's going to affect the way I get on with everyone, and I don't want it damaging my relationship with Lucy." "It's going to be fine," Von answered, rubbing his shoulder. Von wasn't normally this demonstrative, but sometimes it was necessary. "If Rose isn't prepared to be reasonable about this, then maybe you need to re-evaluate your relationship with her. And that need not damage your relationship with Lucy; after all it is possible for you to gain full custody if necessary, although that isn't exactly an ideal solution. But don't let Rose tear you away from Terri, you need both of them."

Mitch nodded. "OK. Now to go and talk to Terri." He took several deep breaths, and then strode over to the small office which was next to the front desk, just off the foyer. He raised his right hand, and almost timidly tapped on the door. Receiving no answer, he squared his shoulders and gave a more forceful knock. "Yes?" Terri seemed nervous. Possibly even afraid. And she didn't know who was knocking. This was a cause for concern to Mitch, but he cleared his throat and forced himself to speak.

"Sullivan? Can we talk?" "H'm. Is there a problem, Dr Stevens?" OK. So she had reverted to formality. Obviously extremely nervous. The fact that it was him who had caused this nervousness hurt. He had pushed the door open, but just stood in the doorway, not wanting to frighten her too badly. "Terri, I... I'm sorry. I should have known..." "No. _I_ should have known. I had always trusted you before, and I suddenly went to pieces over one drunken rage. Mitch, I... I'm so sorry." Terri was crying.

"Hush." Mitch had replied, holding out his arms. "Come here, you goose." Terri had stumbled forward, shivering. "Mitch. Mitch, I'm so sorry, I was so stupid, and I should have known you'd never hurt me, but you were so mad, and then you just punched a hole in the wall, and I panicked, and I'm so sorry..." "It's alright Terri. I'm here. It's OK. You're alright, calm down now, Sullivan," he murmured into the nurse's hair, rocking her gently. "Do I need to bring you a medical dictionary so you can look up the word 'phobia'? Von made me look at one, although looking at it made me feel incredibly stupid. There is a reason that 'phobia' is defined as 'unreasoning or unreasonable fear', you know. And with Ryan... Well, it was so obvious... I should have known..."

Mitch pulled her closer, stroking her hair. "I'm here. It's alright, I'm here. I should have told you to go to Von or someone for the night, I was so mad about losing that poor boy and I wasn't thinking straight, and you know what I was like when I was drunk..." "Yeah. You were normally a stupid drunk. Joker, prankster, screwball. But never violent. Not until that night." "Yes. Why do you think I said I should have made you stay with someone else? Usually I drank for fun, or company. I didn't drink to drown anything, especially not sorrows. Obviously the only thing I drowned that night was my common sense. Also, obviously, I'm waiting for it to resurface now."

Terri had stiffened in his arms, and then started laughing shakily. "I think you may have drowned mine as well, which worries me, because it didn't have permission to be outside my body." This got a laugh out of Mitch. "I hope you gave it a good spanking when it finally showed up again," he sputtered. "I'm going to give mine one, as soon as I can locate the little bugger!" "Indeed I did. Runaway common sense. Whoever would have thought?!" Terri laughed, finally starting to relax. "So, you don't plan on getting drunk to drown anything again anytime soon?" "NO. I definitely don't plan on getting drunk to drown something anytime soon," Mitch replied. "For one thing, I don't want to damage my relationship, or what little is left of it, with Lucy, for another, I can't lose you again."

"You'd better not let Rose hear you saying that," Terri actually giggled, leaning into her friend's side. "Or you won't have _any_ relationship with Lucy. I can't believe how jealous and possessive Rose can be. And I'm trying really hard not to be judgemental, but it's hard, especially with how-well, less than kind towards others' feelings- Rose often is."

Mitch laughed. "You can say 'insensitive cow' you know. I'm not going to go mad if someone speaks their mind about Rose, I know she can be insensitive and more than a little stupid at times. She's definitely gone beyond stupid and into irrational territory when it comes to me having any sort of relationship with you, she seems absolutely certain that we're having an affair, and that I'm just waiting for an excuse to leave her for you. Honestly, it's enough to drive a man away from her and into another person's arms. Although I couldn't do that. Lucy's too important, and if Rose gets too irrational, I'm a little nervous of what she'd do to Lucy. I know she'd never harm Lucy on purpose, but she might do something by accident, or without really thinking about it."

Terri nodded. "It's not a good idea to borrow trouble, Mitch. But I am sad to say you have fairly accurately summed up the situation with Rose. But you'll manage, somehow. Now you'd best get home, before Rose decides to leave you again. Hell that was terrifying. I'm glad she came back, though. Lucy needs her Daddy. If you have to do something about Rose, consider scheduling her again. I know it's not the best option, but if she's becoming a danger to you, herself, or Lucy, then it's the only thing you can do. Just don't try to lose yourself in a bottle if it happens, we need you on the ball. I don't want to have to call security on the best physician in the hospital."

"Why do I work in a nuthouse?" Mitch grumbled. "I thought living in a nuthouse was bad enough." "Admit it, you love us," Terri laughed."And just because Rose suffers from a mental disorder does not mean you live in a nuthouse." "True. Actually, a two month old baby is what makes it a nuthouse. I adore the kid, but she's a lot of work!" "Yes, she is. You knew a baby would be a lot of work, as a physician, you have to have known that. You don't have any excuse for not expecting everything you're going through, how many times have you warned prospective parents about everything you're now experiencing?"

Mitch grimace. "Obviously so many times that it's all gone in one ear and out the other." He replied, shaking his head. "I hate to admit it, but you've got a point." Both laughed. "In one brain cell and out the other more likely," Terri was finally relaxing enough to tease him. This was good. "Dingbat!" "Says the pot!"

"Hey hey you two! Grow up!" Von had stuck her head around the door. "Terri, phone call for you. Mitch, get home, NOW. And give our respects to Rose, and our love to Lucy. I would say love to Rose, but I don't think she'd take it well." Mitch laughed. "That's unfortunately true. I'll pass on both messages, and I'll see you all tomorrow." "'Bye, screwball," Terri called after him. Mitch laughed. "See ya, Sullivan! Behave, won't you?!" "Shut UP!" Terri replied, shaking with laughter. Mitch winked at her. "At least we've cleared the air. Next time, promise to talk about it instead of letting it fester for this long?" "Yes. All the trouble isn't worth it." Terri nodded. "Now get home to your wife and daughter, we'll see you tomorrow." "Bye, you lot. Behave yourselves. I'll see you all tomorrow" Mitch replied, walking out the doors.

"What, precisely, did you say to him?" Terri then asked Von. "Very little. Told him to stop pacing and muttering about how mad he was at you, and then slammed a medical dictionary down in front of him. He seemed to do all the rest of the talking. All I said was about Ryan and Margaret and Eileen."."Lay the guilt on with a shovel, why don't you?" "I think I did. I also think I got through to him." "Yeah, I'd say you got through to him. That guilt thing was sarcastic, by the way." "I know. I still did it. I think it worked." "Well, the 'cold war' you wore concerned about got stopped in its tracks, but I'm not sure about anything else. I think we know at least one person who would have preferred the war to go ahead." "Yes, well her opinion isn't being counted, so it doesn't matter."

Terri smiled. "OK. Now, where were we before I went down to maternity? Everything seemed to get turned upside down after that." Bron laughed. "I don't know, but I think it was something to do with Christmas," Luke said, before adding "I'm glad World War 3 got averted. WW3 on the ward is not a good idea." "WW3 is not a good idea full stop!" Terri replied. "Thanks, Von. We owe you." "Friends, don't owe, don't you know that?!" Von laughed. "Now go home, would you. There's more to life than ward 17, and you know it!" "H'm. Is there indeed?" Terri asked, wryly. She held both hands up a few seconds later. "OK, OK, I'm going, I'm going. I'll see you all tomorrow." She grabbed her bag and jacket from her office and left the ward herself, humming.


	2. Victoria and Terri

I Still don't own All Saints. It wouldn't be ending if I did.

This is the second in the Important Conversations story. Although it is a one-shot, it is related to the previous chapter, and following chapters may well be related to this one. This chapter begins following on from the line: "You could have had your pick of the doctors. So why choose a married one?" From Victoria Carleton to Terri.

* * *

TERRI AND VICTORIA

Terri Sullivan sighed, wondering exactly what she was going to say to the mother-in-law of one of her closest friends. Victoria Carleton, mother of Rose Carleton-Stevens, had just asked Terri a very tricky question, and Terri was unsure of what the best answer was.

"May I sit?" She asked, indicating the chair by the bed. Victoria nodded. "By all means." Terri sighed again. "Victoria, just what do you know of my relationship with Mitch? She finally asked. That seemed to be the best way to start this rather awkward conversation. "Very little. Rose seems absolutely certain that you two are having an affair, Mitch keeps trying to tell me that you're just really close friends, even though I'm sure there's more to the relationship than that, and I don't really know what to believe."

Terri smiled. "Well, that makes my task a lot easier, Victoria. Mitch and I are not having an affair, currently We are very close friends, and I hope that will never change, however we are not currently having an affair. We have not been having an affair since Mitch returned from Africa, although we were dating and actually engaged before he went." Victoria raised her eyebrows. "What happened to end the engagement, if I may ask?" "Haven't Rose of Mitch told you?" Terri replied, uneasily. "No. They haven't told me anything about a previous relationship."

Terri sighed. "Alright. Mitch and I were dating, and were planning to be married. Then one day, Mitch lost a young patient. Because of what happened to Lucy, Mitch often gets upset if he can't save a patient, and it's always worse if the patient is a child. When Mitch came home, he was really upset. He started drinking heavily, and something unusual happened." "Oh? What was that?" Victoria asked, interested now. "Mitch is normally a friendly drunk. When drunk, he dreams up stupid pranks to play on people, tells really horrible jokes, and is a general screwball. This time, however Mitch was so upset that the beers he was drinking only made him more upset, and eventually angry. Finally, he stuck his fist through a wall in the flat we shared."

Victoria looked shocked. "But...with Ryan..." "Exactly," Terri replied, shaking her head sadly. 'I panicked and ran. I wasn't going to end up like my mum and Margaret." "No. I can understand that. So that's why the relationship ended. But Mitch is still in love with you?" "Yes. Unfortunately." Terri replied, rubbing one hand over her eyes. "Before he proposed to Rose, he asked if there was ever any chance of us picking up our relationship, if there was any future for us. At the time, I was a devoted religious, and could not see myself leaving the community. I told him so. I also told Mitch that if it would ever be with any man, it would be with him."

Victoria nodded. "I understand. I wonder if Rose knew any of this?" "I think she must have. Mitch told me that before accepting his proposal, Rose asked if he was proposing to her because someone else wasn't available. He admitted that there had been someone else, but that they had taken themself out of the race a long time ago. Rose replied that the person was still in the picture, and Mitch agreed that his former flame was still around. With the way Mitch and I interacted at the time, and the way Mitch has always behaved in relation to me, Rose must have known that he was still in love with me. Hell, I avoided him so much when he first came back because I took one look at him and fell back in love with him."

Victoria laughed at that. "We liked him at first sight, too. He was sweet and courteous, and he obviously treated Rose very well. But we should have seen through all the hospital talk, should have known it meant something he was trying to tell us, but couldn't." Terri smiled, sadly. "Perhaps. Victoria, I feel I need to tell you this, because I can see that you value honesty, and so do I. Should Mitch and Rose break up, we may well explore the possibility of a relationship between us, but at this point in time, I am single, although I am close to Mitch. If you remember from the trial a couple of years ago, that mean cow of a prosecutor asked Mitch if he was still in love with me, and he replied in the affirmative. She then asked him if he would do anything to protect me, and once again replied in the affirmative, before she then triumphantly 'stated' that doing anything to protect me would include lying to the court. Mitch looked murderous."

Victoria nodded. "I can well imagine. I would do a lot to protect my friends too, but I wouldn't commit perjury for them, and I hope they wouldn't ask me to. I'm certain you didn't ask Mitch to." "Of course not," Terri replied. "Thank you for having faith in me, Victoria." Victoria just nodded. "I'm not sure it's faith in you, Terri. I'm currently being civil to you to humour Mitch, but the more we talk, the more I think I like you on your own merits." Terri smiled again. "I can't ask any more than that. Thanks again."

"Now, what happened with Lucy?" Victoria asked, looking concerned. "Lucy was Mitch's sister," Terri replied. "She like to play 'dead' in order to get Mitch into trouble with their parents. One day, she threw a tantrum over not getting her own way about something, and Mitch left her to cool down. When he went back, she appeared to be playing 'dead', so Mitch went away again. When he went back some time later, he found out she was still laying there. He called for an ambulance. It turned out Lucy had electrocuted herself. Mitch still feels he could have done something, and that he should have done something the first time he saw her, when he thought she was pretending. He still feel terrible guilt because he wasn't able to save Lucy, and that guilt colours his feelings over patients he loses, even now. Back then, his reaction to losing that boy was extreme, but it terrified me, and I ran, before I had even thought the situation through properly, or talked to Mitch. We have smoothed things out since then, but I spent some time encouraging Mitch in his shaky relationship with Rose. I know Rose can be difficult, but Mitch truly does love her, in his own strange way."

Victoria nodded. "Thank you for telling me all of this, Terri. A lot of conflicting pieces of information now make sense to me, and I'm grateful for that. Thank you also for clarifying your relationship with Mitch to me. I have no problem with it, however Rose is a different story. I fear their marriage may not have a future, especially if Rose continues to be irrational and unreasonable in relation to Mitch and you being friends, among other issues."

Terri nodded. "I know we're all trying to cut Rose some slack because of her bi-polar disorder," she said, softly. "But a lot of Rose's behaviour just can't be excused. Especially when it comes to emotionally blackmailing the people around her. Running away and kidnapping Lucy was a horrible experience for us all, and Mitch is still walking on eggshells around Rose, because he is desperately afraid that if he does something wrong, Rose will leave again, and take Lucy with her."

Victoria nodded. "Yes. We fear that too. We couldn't stand it if anything happened to Lucy, and we don't want anything to happen to Rose or Mitch. I can see that you don't either. Would you mind me asking you what, if any, relationship you have with Lucy?" "I don't really know. I may be Lucy's Godmother, unofficially. Mitch routinely refers to me as 'Auntie Terri', which I have to admit I very much enjoy. Lucy is a wonderful little girl, and I think everyone who's seen her so far has fallen in love with her."

Victoria smiled. "I wouldn't be surprised if they had. We certainly did," she replied, before adding, "And I'll support you being Lucy's Godmother. Mitch has told us a bit about how you handle Lucy, and I frankly think she couldn't find a better Godmother, although I'm never going to tell Rose that." "H'm. Indeed." Terri replied. "Rose would kill us all if she got any idea of this; you know how jealous and petty she's been about me and Mitch even being friends at all." "Yes, I know," Victoria replied. "I hope that won't stop you from being friends with Mitch, and me, if possible."

Terri smiled. "I can see no reason why Rose's behaviour should stop us from being friends. You may have to run a few of the things Rose says by me before you decide what to believe, especially if Mitch tells you a conflicting story about the same thing, but I can't see any real reason why we can't be friends. I'd like for us to be friends, but I don't want us being friends to damage your relationship with Rose." Victoria smiled. "Thanks, Terri, but if something is going to ruin my relationship with my daughter, then there's not much anyone can do about it. I really appreciate your concern, though. I'm starting to see that Mitch really knows more about you than Rose does. I find it hard to believe that you and Rose were sort of friends, before you introduced her to Mitch. Well, before Mitch proposed, anyway." "I know. I think Rose was on her lithium more consistently back then, no-one would have dreamed she had a mental disorder. But when she was pregnant with Lucy, she stopped taking it. Now she takes it on and off, and I guess that's what causes the sudden irrational periods, and frightening mood swings."

"That would make sense," Victoria replied, smiling. "Thanks for clearing that up, I had wondered what had caused her sudden mood swings and irrational behaviour. I'm glad there was actually a reason behind it, I was afraid that it was my fault that Rose was being so irrational or something." "OF course it's not your fault, Victoria," Terri replied, shaking her head. "Rose needs to be monitored until she gets back into the routine of taking her medication. Until then, she will have periods when she is the person you remember her as, and periods when it will seem like she's been possessed by aliens. I certainly thought that, the first time she was irrational. I kept wondering who she was and where Rose was. Then I found out she had bi-polar, but was off lithium because of the baby. It all made sense after that." Victoria nodded. "It made sense for me too, after I knew about that."

Terri smiled. "I'm glad we're talking this out, now, before the situation festered like it did with me and Mitch. And I'm glad me and Mitch talked our situation out. I want you to know that I will never do anything to undermine Mitch's relationship with Rose, and that I will do everything I can to help Mitch keep his relationship with Lucy. Family is sacred, even if it is stupid, or dysfunctional. But sometimes, nothing will keep a family together. And if Mitch and Rose separate on their own, then I need you to understand that Mitch is likely to try to pursue a relationship with me." Victoria nodded. "Yes, I understand that. Thank you once again for telling me all of this."

At this point, Mitch walked over. "Hello you two. You seem to be conspiring about something, do you mind me asking what you're talking so deeply about?" "Just girl talk," the women assured him, before Victoria added, "I'm sorry I've been so difficult for the last little while. I haven't known what or who to believe for some time, but Terri's been a great help to me. You are blessed to have such a good friend, don't ever do anything to damage that." "I don't intend to," Mitch replied, smiling. "I'm glad you feel the same way as I do about Terri, I know I'm blessed to have her as a friend." "And I'm blessed to have you two as friends," Terri added, smiling at both. "Now, I'm sorry, but I don't have any more time to gossip. There's a ward to run, you know."

"Go on, then Go run your ward. We'll be fine." Mitch laughed, taking the seat instead. Within seconds, Mitch and Victoria were talking avidly about something to do with Lucy, and the phone had rung, so Terri went to deal with whatever had come up now.


End file.
